Imagine you just graduated from college top of your class with a degree in AI wizardry (I don't know what a degree for an expert in AI is really called and I'm too lazy to ask AI to look it up). Basically every Fortune 500 company wants to hire you. You go to several job interviews and they tell you, "You're the best! We want to hire you more than anyone else on earth wants to hire you. We are willing to pay you $1 million per year... but some entity has capped the max we can offer you. We want to give you $1 million, but we are only allowed to offer you $100,000." You go to 29 other companies and they all say the same thing except some say "I am willing to pay you $6 million... but I'm only allowed to offer you $100,000". If that happened you'd lose your mind and start looking for a lawyer to sue this jerkstores for collusion.
And yet, just about everyone thinks it is completely fine to do that to basketball, football, and hockey players even though they are the owners of one of the most scarcest resources on earth: elite athletic talent. It is a talent that consumers pay hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars to enjoy. We don't cap Tom Crusie from making $100 million on a single movie. We don't cap Judge Judy from making $47 million for her syndicated show.
Well today, news broke about how absurd salary caps are and how easy they are to circumvent. In case you haven't heard, The L.A. Clippers are being investigated for circumventing the salary cap by giving Kawhi Leonard a $28 million "no show job". The only other time I've heard of a "No show job" is when mobsters get them on The Wire or one of the 1 billion Law And Orders. But to me, this seems like a victimless crime and one that I'd imagine many other teams are doing.
The owners of these teams are BILLIONAIRES. They throw around millions the way I throw around pennies... well quarters now after inflation but still. They have the money. They want to hire an employee. But they can't? That is simply bizarre. So of course they are going to come up with ways to work around that system. I mean these are billionaires who are well trained in circumventing tax laws so working around the NBA office should be child's play. In 2018, the owner of the Clippers REPORTEDLY made $656 million. He paid $78 million in taxes. Sounds huge until you realize that is a 12% tax rate. I wish I could pay a 12% tax rate. So if he wanted to give Kawhi Leonard $28 million, why would I care. I'd prefer he donate that to a charity, but it is not my business.
I think Ballmer will survive without that $28 million.
It was so easy to do. According to ESPN, all Ballmer had to do is partner with a company named Aspire. Then Aspire gave Leonard $28 million as an endorsement deal.
Do you think Ballmer is the only Billionaire who has other companies under him? Do you think these companies may want to hire NBA players as spokespeople?
Honestly the only shocking thing about this whole story is that the NBA thinks only 1 team and player is doing this. The league made $11.3 BILLION dollars in 2023-2024. They just signed an 11 year $76 BILLION TV contract. The players should get as much of that as possible. If they need a job at the "docks" to give them what they deserve, who cares?